


Realms

by HeatherGiesbrecht



Category: Legend of Spyro, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Blood, Brothers, Eventual Romance, Gen, M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-04-12 23:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4498470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeatherGiesbrecht/pseuds/HeatherGiesbrecht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moonlight gleamed off the ice, off sapphire scales and lighter skin, it didn't matter that they were born of different Realms, they were brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Book

The Chronicler looked down at the onyx and ruby book in Skuld’s hands. “You want me to guide young Loki, O’ Lady of Fortune ?”

Skuld ran a dark-sapphire hand through her blood-red hair, “I want to change his fate, but if he stays in either the Realm of Jotunheim or Asgard it will not. He would be safer here in the Dragon Realms. I have not asked much from you, Magnus, since I made you Chronicler. So, please, do this for me, for Loki.”

He stretched his wings and swished his tail as he considered it. Finally, he replied, “The time has long passed since anyone knew my true name, much less said it to me. For you and the boy, Lady Skuld, I will. Is there a time when you would wish him to return to Yggdrasil ?”

“You need not worry, I will handle that. Thank-you, Magnus, I knew that I could count on you.”

She held out Loki’s book and he summoned it to hover before him. Immediately, it opened to the beginning and the picture showed a tiny baby Jotun disappearing in a burst of light to land on a rock amidst swirling snow. Another book this one coloured sapphire and amethyst shot out to hover beside Loki’s - it opened to show the little hatchling, Cyril, and Loki running around on the icy plains of Dante’s Freezer while laughing uproariously.

When he looked up Skuld had disappeared. Slowly, he looked back down at the books then said, “You will be fine under my watch, little ones.” Loki and Cyril’s books floated onto one of the lower shelves together.

 


	2. Hunger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the Guardians oversee the hatchings and raise the hatchlings, but just pretend that because Cyril is here descended from former royalty the temple left his parents to raise and train him for a few years.

Loki whimpered as the footsteps faded away, not only was he scared; he was hungry and sleepy too. Green moonlight fell over him through the snowflake shaped roof of the cave. Outside there was a lot of screaming, every once in a while the cave would shake. All he wanted was quiet so that he could sleep and ignore the hunger. Suddenly, the moonlight intensified, there was a feeling like Mother’s throwing him to catch him, except he landed in soft snow.

 _‘Ooh, pretty.’_   Entranced by the falling flakes that now surrounded him, he giggled before sticking out his tongue. This snow tasted slightly sweeter than what he normally had. Moonlight swirled as what he would later learn was the worst snowstorm of the century picked up. Eventually, snow crunched under heavy feet and something dark came toward him. He couldn‘t help giggling because if he was outside and hungry that normally meant food.

A giant nose hovered over him to snuffle at his face before a voice like the rumble of distant ice said, “Wherever did you come from, little one ? Hmm, you smell hungry. Gertrude should have enough milk for you and our hatchling both.”

Odd rough, dark-blue hands picked him up before the wind rushed in his ears. He hummed when the hand rested against a purple chest and a giant thump-thump replaced the wind. Sometime later, he found himself laid on smooth ice. Drowsily, he blinked in disbelief when he saw how huge the creature was. If the creature hadn’t felt so kind, it would have scared him.

Someone else, a female asked, “Where did you find him, Talus ?”

“Would you believe that he was just outside the door laying on that old stone ? I almost walked right over him, if it hadn’t been for this little rapscallion’s low key giggle I would have.”

“Low key…Loki, simple, but lovely, I like that. What of you ?”

Bored with the talking, he yawned, turned and started crawling toward the blue egg with amethyst zigzags on it that lay in a stone bowl. Unconsciously, he put a hand on the egg willing ice into the shell. Thick frost crawled over the surface, seconds later the sound of multiple cracks filled the room. He squealed as something pushed against his hand and huge, bright-blue eyes blinked up at him. Seconds passed as they stared at each other, the creature smiled, immediately, he grinned back. A startled squawk left its lips before it fell over with a rapid flutter of wings. Carefully, he backed away, moving around the softly glowing bowl and saw the horns it was a…dragon.

He tried to pick up the blue, white and purple dragon only to fall over himself. The floor shook before another giant, but lighter-blue scaled nose snuffled them before it gently righting both of them. Milk scent drew him to a purplish-grey teat, which he happily started suckling on, the milk left welcome warmth in his stomach. Dimly, he noticed the blue nose carefully nudging the little dragon to suckle beside him.

“Currently, he looks a lot like my father, but he most definitely has your eyes, Gertrude.”

“We can call him Cyril as my father was Cyrus and yours Merrill.”

“Indeed, indeed, splendid names the both of them. Welcome to the family, Loki and Cyril, welcome. I am Father and that is Mother, we are so utterly thrilled to have you here.”

 _‘C-Cyril, Cy-yril.’_   Eventually, he had his fill of milk and wriggled away. Softly, Loki whispered, “Hi, Cyril.” then reached over to hug Cyril with one arm. A tiny amethyst membraned wing laid itself across his back as Cyril hugged him in turn and they curled up together.

Mother cooed, “Oh, look at them, darling, aren’t they adorable ?”

Father lay down on their other side with a chuckle, “Yes, they certainly are. And here we thought we would only have one son the first time.”

The quiet words, “Long, long ago in times near forgotten, your ancestor Dante was the duly appointed leader of our wondrous race, the Ice Dragons. He was incredibly smart, courageous and charismatic to the ninth degree…,” echoed in his ears as he finally fell asleep.


	3. Gale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Giant Ice Snouts are my creation, so are Talus, Gertrude, Gale and all the others you don't recognize.

Six-year old Loki startled and fell into the ocean as someone barrel rolled over him, simultaneously clawing at his hair. Annoyed and helpless, he flailed reaching for the ice-shelf…it was too far away. He already knew who it was, the black and dark-blue scaled hatchling, Gale. _‘I can’t swim she knows this. She doesn’t care if I drown.’_

The other six-year old hovered mockingly above him; her light-grey eyes were gleeful. “You’re a wingless freak, Loki.” A small twister poured from Gale’s mouth causing the nearest waves to churn violently back upon him.

Loki sputtered, “Y-you’re a stupid mole. Mother, Father, help !”

What with his own weight being far more than it looked, he sank quickly. Water rushed uncomfortably into his mouth, nose and ears. His ears rang, and his nose burned, but something distracted him.

 _‘Now, I know why Mother likes to swim, to fish.’_ Sunlight gleamed off the water and the enormous side of the icy glacier/island on which their home rested; who only knew how big it truly was, the ice seemed to extend infinitely into the darker water below.

Unexpectedly, his feet hit something solid and he started ascending. It was only then he realized how far he’d sunk…twenty feet too much for his tiny frame to manage by himself. Grateful, he looked down then blinked in confusion he stood on an enormous yellow-skinned creature with a dark-emerald shell. _‘A giant turtle ? Wait, no, no, Mother said that this is Leviathan. How nice of him, uh, her, err, it.’_

As it surfaced, Leviathan barked ending with a shrill bray and he burst into a harsh coughing fit. Relief filled him, and he drew shuddering breaths before an ice spike whistled past Gale’s right wing.

Father spoke, swimming up along side the six-finned Leviathan, “You whom once would be Lady Gale of Stiria are a sanctimonious and bewildering little hatchling. Rest assured that Vind will hear of your intentional cruelty before I make sure that you experience a fitting punishment.”

There was no answer from Gale who instead shot off into the iceberg-filled Stiria Narrows. Once Mother said that Gale’s family had known aristocratic status, they lived in a cave wherein they could always feel the breeze on their wings.

Quietly, Father muttered, “What rubbish, utter rubbish, she has no manners whatsoever. Try to drown my eldest.”

Slowly, he walked up Leviathan’s back onto its front flipper and off onto the ice shelf. Father half-flapped to land beside him before sniffing him from head-to-toe. An amethyst wing half-folded then gently rubbed his shoulder blades.

Behind them Cyril shouted, “Father, Loki, look at me, I’m swimming !”

Pride for his little brother flooded him and he turned to see Cyril grinning, paddling steadily towards him, Father and Leviathan. “I’m proud to know that one of us can help with the fish hunt.”

Mother, who swam just behind Cyril in case he should need help, stated, “You are quite helpful yourself, Loki. It is easier for you to get close to and sneak up on smaller land-based prey as you blend in even better with the snowdrifts than we do.”

Father turned to Leviathan leaning down to proffer the fish he’d held in his forepaws, flaring his wings for balance. Leviathan opened its beak and accepted the fish then turned lazily, wagged its tiny tail in thanks and disappeared beneath the surface.

While Mother helped Cyril onto the shelf, he scrubbed at his hair wishing that he had scales too. _‘At least, it would take longer than a minute for the water to freeze on my hair, it is so annoying. I suppose that is why in the old books my kin were, sometimes, called: Freezers, apart from the obvious. I still like the far more formal sounding: Ice Maker to Freezer.’_

An idea sparked as if he’d been hit by an electric stream and he rubbed his hands together willing the chill from his core to gather in them, widening the distance until a middle-sized sphere had formed. Laughter left his lips, “Mother, look I made a snowball !”

A brief grin crossed Mother’s beak as she twisted. “Your first conscious manipulation of our element ? May I see it ?”

Loki held out the snowball proudly proclaiming, “Of course, Mother.”

It made him laugh again when Cyril jumped into the air to hover so that he could see too. “Mother, can I make one ? I want one.”

“We can’t make snowballs ourselves, Cyril, but we can increase the size of the ones we find. It’s really quite fun whacking snowballs around. That is how I met your father, actually, he was flying rather low to the ground.” Mother burst into snickers before she finished, “I, ah-ha, I hit him in the face.”

Unconsciously, Father raised a paw to rub his jaw, “Yes, with all the force of an earth flail I should say. It still ruddy well smarts when I think of the impact.”

The information surprised him because Mother was so much smaller than Father was, though she had more horns too. She had four thin, backward curling, fluted horns with two on either side of her head; Father only had two straight, smooth horns extending from his forehead.

Still trying to stem her laughter Mother leaned over to rub her and Father’s cheeks together. “Again, I offer my apologies.”

Snowball smacking did sound like a fun idea, he put the ball on the ground. “Try hitting that, Cyril.”

The tiny hatchling giggled uncontrollably, “Yay.” causing ice to puff from his lips. Cyril walked up to stop a foot beside the ball and swung his barbed tail…too hard incurring a full spin. His little brother had the same amethyst fading to white spines as Mother on his head and body, so he looked far less like Father than when he’d barely hatched. What Cyril had inherited from Father was the ice-chip-like membraned wings and horns.

With a smile, Father gently nudged Cyril out of the way. “You need to move slightly back so that you can properly judge the distance. Once you have the distance correctly triangulated then give it a jolly good whack like…this.” Father wound his tail then lashed the snowball mightily.

Said snowball arced hundreds of feet through the air to explode against the crumbling, dark-grey stone of the fortress. The ancient, completely abandoned fortress was set hundreds of feet back from the water’s edge. All their lives he and Cyril had seen the eerie place when they’d come to the Narrows, always it lurked on the edge of sight. Unconsciously, his breath caught, waiting for something to rush them from the freestanding entrance.

Luckily, nothing did and it prompted him to ask, “Father, why does it feel as if something is in that place ?”

Father tilted his head, dark-sapphire eyes closing briefly. “It is rather because something does, Loki, cursed beings, the undead, reside there. Long ago, when the Ice Makers came here they were followed by what they called Marauders. The Ice Makers made kinship ties with us whilst the Marauders built fortresses and hidden lairs intending to take over The Most Grand Kingdom of Imperishable Ice. Catapults and magical green fire were their main long-range weapons. Eventually, we flew against them and after many losses on all sides we froze them mid-action. The sorcerous of us cursed them not to rest until they had died three times. Were they to awaken they would slaughter you if they could. Promise me that you will never go in without adequate training.”

What other sensible course of action was there ? None, and so he swore it.

Mother looked up then said, “Hello Vind, have you come to discuss Gale ?”

Vind alighted four feet away, his black outer scales and bronze inner scales a sharp contrast against the ice. “I have, Gale told me what she did. I think it best if her punishment were to live with you for a period of five days without the use of her wings or wind breath.”

Father raised his eyebrow ridges, “So, she will learn that while Loki doesn’t have wings or an elemental breath he does, in fact, have advantages which are deserving of respect. What a stupendous idea, Vind, it will be truly marvellous if it works. Bring her around the mansion just before…say, sunrise tomorrow, she can help Loki hunt for tomorrow’s breakfast. If at the end of the week Gale has learned her lesson I say we throw a cracking good party.”

Vind’s light-grey eyes were speculative for a moment and he nodded. “Quite so, I shall bring her before sunrise. Good day, all.”

Gleefully, Loki asked, “Father, may I take her wolf hunting ?” _‘Please, please, Father say: Yes.’_

“As they are far easier to hunt one’s first time than a, say, Giant Ice Snout, I don’t see why not.”

“Thank-you, Father.”

_‘Yes ! If she can’t crack it then she’ll get a headache, literally or not.’_

Early last year, he’d discovered his ability to summon illusions when he and Cyril had found a wolf snarling at their door. Proudly, he remembered how he’d willed the shaggy, blue and white-furred beast to imagine them fleeing toward a chasm. When the illusions of him and Cyril had ducked and cowered, it’d leaped to tumble over the edge with a high-pitched howl.

Just then an Ice Snout - a tiny, long-bodied and tailed, four-legged, black-furred animal with comparatively bulbous eyes - slunk from its burrow in the ice. The Ice Snout bounced happily toward a snow pile near the fortress’s entrance to search for Snow Beetles. _‘Perhaps, I can work in an illusion of a Giant Ice Snout as well. Oh, that would be wonderful.’_

He couldn’t wait for tomorrow, the Ancestors protect Gale because it was going to be a frosty morning, indeed.


	4. Wolf

Loki had lain awake the last few minutes on his nest. He looked up as Cyril meandered into the room. Gently, Loki admonished, “You should be asleep, little brother.”

Instead of returning to his nest the blue hatchling yawned, “A-are you going to get a big wolf ?”

“I wanted to surprise you when you woke for breakfast.”

Cyril’s eyes glittered with the light reflected off the smooth curves and sharp edges of clear ice and dark-grey stone. “I can go back to sleep !”

Much heavier talons clicked on the ice outside his room before Father walked in. “Ah, boys, it is good you are up. Cyril, you can help your mother tidy up the sculptures before Loki and Gale return with breakfast. Loki, Vind and Gale approach via the west wind we should go to meet them.”

As he passed Cyril he scratched the space between Cyril’s horns and forehead spines where his brother couldn’t reach. Soon after, he followed Father out the double stone doors with their sapphire centerpiece. A minute later, two dark shapes glided over the island’s lip and onto the snow.

Vind dipped his six-horned head and bent a wing, “Salutations, Talus, Loki.”

They returned the greeting before Father asked, “Would you like to come in, Vind ?”

“Thank-you, Talus, but I must decline as I have some business to attend at the Temple.” Father bid Vind, him and Gale good luck on their ventures then went back inside. He smothered his amusement as Vind flew off leaving Gale to trudge through the snow toward him.

The dragoness’s leaf shaped tail-tip lashed, “I may have told my father what I did, but that doesn’t mean I like you !”

Loki passed her walking toward Jot Forest saying, “You don‘t have to. Remember you can’t use your breath or wings or you stay powerless even longer.” Smugly, he added, “My father tracked down a wolf without flying once last night.”

Jot Forest covered most of upper Imperishable, but there weren’t any clear references as to why it was called that. _‘Just like there’s nothing that says what the Dians are. Humph, at least, the mysterious Dians would blend in better than Gale.’_

Gale’s talons clicked as she stomped over the rock Father had found him on. Reluctantly, she followed him and he courteously held the branches back. It was funny to see her spitting out a bunch of imaginary snow. Instead of revealing it as a jest he merely let her shake the illusory snow off and glare at him.

Gale slammed a paw into the snow, “Where is this stupid wolf ? Why are you doing the hunting ?”

He slid a hand down his wolf-fur kilt to the ice dagger sheathed at his side. “It was in a cave by the Blue River, so it is not far, thirty minutes at most. As for why I am hunting it makes me feel useful and helps me control my ice.”

_‘Also, it helps that this kilt is getting small. Mother can help me skin it and we can take the pelt to Aunt Aethel.’_

Aunt Aethel was not related to Mother or Father, but the wind dragoness had helped to raise him and Cyril when their parents knew not what to do. It was because of her that he knew not all Wind Dragons were, temperament wise, ugly as an Ice Snout’s backside for fickleness. _‘If she does learn something good of me I’ll have found thick ice in regard to Gale.’_

Farther off in the trees there was a faint sound of Apes laughing, Gale froze. “Apes ? There really are Apes here ?” Offended, he replied, “Yes, but most of them are just like us.” _‘A few are also mindless dewclaws.’_

He looked back to see a sneer crossed her beaked muzzle, “You don’t you have wings, scales or even talons. It’s sure as storms that you are nothing like me.” Loki shook his head growling, “So, merely because someone is a different species from you don’t think they deserve acknowledgement ?”

The snow deepened slightly as the path started to slope downward. Wind rustled the pine needles and water burbled faintly, they were getting closer to the river. The Blue River originated from a hot spring atop the tallest mountain, Dante’s Peak, which flowed down through Jot Forest then all of Imperishable and into the ocean.

She humphed, “Moles are fine, Apes are stupid and they steal my Spirit Gems ! My Spirit Gems ! You’re such a fool that Talus should have named you Dazed Downdraft.”

“Yes, that’s much better than Calamitous Current which should’ve been yours.”

“Uppity Updraft !”

“Damp Dolt !”

With an air of superiority she said, “Blustering Bugger.”

_‘I never ! Where did she learn something so foul ? Well, I am certainly not stooping to such levels.’_

“Sulphurous Sadie.”

They fell into annoyed silence as they descended the bank. Someone had dammed the river again leaving the level at only two feet, probably Sir Stiria the Fourth since his home further down the bank had a tendency to flood. Why the ancient dragon moved to inner Imperishable from the narrows he had no idea, unless it were for space. After crossing the river he walked across the crunching snow to lay on the bank before the wolf’s cave. With his ice dagger in hand, dawn broke as he let the dagger’s frost cover his body. It felt better being all the way covered, it felt far too odd when only his hair was frozen. _‘Now, it is time to wait.’_

Beside him Gale stayed standing her folded wings twitched and she kneaded her fore paws. In an undertone she growled, “Its asleep ! For the Ancestors sake, why can’t we just ambush it ?”

He raised his head slightly as the lone wolf twitched and stretched in its sleep. “Gale, it is dishonourable to attack a sleeping foe. Now, be quiet will you ?” _‘If it does not wake soon I will try to wake it.’_ It was a wonder to him when she lay down and managed to wait quietly. A second passed as he put the illusion of a flock of noisy crows into the wolf’s mind to gauge how deeply it slept; the wolf didn’t wake.

Slowly, the sun rose higher in the sky as a few Ice Snouts bounced past drink from the river. The Ice Snouts bolted when they heard the caws and real crows quickly swooped in to settle around Gale for her visibility. One crow hopped onto Gale’s shoulder blades between her nape and the first grey-blue spine, whilst another snapped at her tail-tip. Gale growled throwing herself into a roll and smashing her tail down hard. When she righted herself the crows had turned to tiny, glowing emeralds pushed into the snow. Said emeralds floated up then absorbed into Gale’s scales to replace the magic she’d used in yesterday’s incident.

_‘It always interests me when that happens. Father said it was the Ancestors way of looking out for most of their needs. He thinks that the things I kill don’t turn to magic, health or spirit gems because I am not born of the Dragon Realms and thus don’t need them. I just don’t understand why the rubies can heal any near fatal wound, but Father, Cyril and Mother still have to eat. Unless, they care more for the bonding experience, they truly need the food or both are necessary. Humph, it is magic, dragon magic as not even Father can explain. Hmm, Aunt Aethel said that I have my own magic apart from ice. Yet I’ve never discovered this supposed other magic, I wonder if I ever shall ?’_

Gale’s movement caused the other crows to squawk, to fly at and claw her so that she had to shield herself with her wings. He leaped up to slash into one of the bird’s backs. At his attack some turned to swarm him instead, their claws striking the ice futilely as he was drenched in hot, stinking blood. Gale joined him, opening her wings and rearing to claw at the birds. Between them the birds were easily defeated, Gale’s rubies floated in mid-air as the last of his crows fell to the ground. _‘I need to figure out how to make ice shards like Father did yesterday. I wouldn’t end up having to bathe every time I kill something. This type of fighting is too easy for me to wind up injured.’_

Of course, the noise and such was enough to awaken the wolf from its slumber. While he turned, wiping blood from his eyes he noticed that they shared colour - ruby dipped in magical blood. So familiar was it that he almost didn’t notice the huge, white and sapphire wolf rush at him. When he did, he thrust the dagger into its chest and the wolf’s momentum knocked him into the river. Teeth snapped toward his face as the hilt broke with an echoing crack and the heavy mottled muzzle thudded into his throat.

Air whooshed softly before Sir Stiria alighted on the bank, grasped the wolf’s ruff and pulled it off him to lay the carcass on the bank. Sir Stiria swept his right wing forward in a brief bow, “Salutations, Granddaughter, young Loki.”

Gale padded up to rub her muzzle against the older dragon’s. “Good morning, Grandfather. I have missed you.” Sir Stiria’s warm reply of, “I missed you as well, little leaf.” made him wish that Grandfather Merrill still lived.

As he got to his feet Sir Stiria was still the biggest dragon he’d seen at fifteen feet tall with folded wings, Father and Mother were only about ten feet tall in the same position. Instinctively, he bowed, only it was his arm bending and fingers curling into a paw-like shape as he looked down briefly. “You have my greetings and deepest thanks for your help, Sir Stiria.”

“Oh, it’s quite all right. Do you wish assistance with the transportation of your kill ?”

“That would be lovely, but you should know that Gale cannot fly. Vind has set it as her punishment for trying to hurt me yesterday.”

The ruby under bellied dragon once again looked at Gale. Sir Stiria‘s lower fangs were longer than was normal thus giving him a rather more fearsome look than the average dragon. Sir Stiria‘s words were stern, but not unkind, “Trying to kill someone who is not attacking you is incredibly dishonourable. Why, if this were my father’s Age and you my sister whilst Loki a Prince of Imperishable you would be disowned. As such it is lucky for you that the monarchy was abolished when your father was born or your punishment would be far, far more severe. Have you, at least, had the decency to apologize like a good dragon, Gale ?”

He might not have liked Gale much, but it was certainly the most embarrassing thing he’d witnessed as she shifted her weight from paw to paw. Gale’s tail-tip flicked the back of her right leg as she replied, “I was going to, yes, Grandfather.”

“Hmm, good, good. Well, come along now.” Sir Stiria again picked up the wolf’s carcass by the ruff and swung it onto his back before shifting it until it rested comfortably. “Loki, do remind me where your lovely home is.”

While he led the way back along the path Gale plodded along beside him with her head and tail lowered. Dejectedly, Gale muttered, “I’m sorry for trying to drown you, Loki, it was stupid of me and I deserve this punishment for needlessly endangering you. Cyril needs someone to watch out for him since he’s so small too.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he found himself asking, “Small ? Cyril is small only when compared to Blithe and Merrick.”

Gale shook her head responding, “No, they are the same size as my little brother, Diro, while Cyril is very small. Cyril is five, but he looks as if he is only three.”

Sir Stiria entered the conversation with, “Actually, that frost’s a bit thick, my boy. Back in my year Cyril would be the perfect size, but he is smaller than most hatchlings I’ve seen for his and Diro’s year. Then again, it is said that both Zephyrus and Dante were smaller than most dragons and they went on to become some of the greatest born in all the history of the Year of the Dragon thus far.”

 _‘Mother thinks that I was born in the Year of the Atlawa or whatever the equaling Year is in my birth realm, while Cyril was born in the Year of the Mole.’_ Quite suddenly the pine trees shook, dumping snow on them as a few of the smaller grey furred Apes clad in their beige-leather armour jumped overhead with raucous laughter. He shook off the snow, at the same time tilting his hand and willing the bloody ice into a ball so that he could drop it. After the Apes had disappeared the pace picked up because Gale didn’t want to stay in the vicinity of the furred creatures longer than she needed.

When they arrived at the mansion Father waited for them before the doors. Father and Sir Stiria exchanged short pleasantries before transferring the wolf carcass. On their way to the dining hall they passed the twenty foot tall statues of Grandfather/former Prince Merrill, Grandmother Ferox, Great-grandfather/King Hydra etc. Cyril was playing with some silver-white berries while Mother watched.

Cyril looked up and a star berry rolled away as his mouth dropped open. “Did you do that, Loki ?”

Loki crouched to pick up the berry, “Yes, yes, I did.” As he rose to return the berry he looked about to see where Gale was.

The wind dragoness stood beside Father shivering and muttering, “It’s much colder than I thought it would be.”

He sat down across from Cyril, flicking the berry into the middle of the gathered pile causing them to roll a little ways away into a semi-circle. Idly, he wondered, “Are you sure ? I’ve never found it so cold I couldn’t bear it, unless there is a particularly bad storm.”

Gale wandered around the hall briefly examining a bust of a five-horned dragon’s head. “I suppose you don’t notice as much because you’re all ice-oriented.”

Father made his way to the center of the room and shrugged the wolf onto the floor. His father answered, “That may be so, but I do hope you will be comfortable here despite that, Gale. Did you know that a near complete immunity to the cold is an acquired skill of ice dragons and Ice Makers ? Therefore, there are some old furs that you may use for the nights I can show you later on. Personally, I find the differences between dragon subspecies to be quite fascinating. Ice dragons would not live well, if at all, were we to move to Munitions Forge, nor would fire dragons if they were to live here in Imperishable. Yet both ice and fire dragons can exhibit enormous influence on our surroundings. An exceptionally trained ice dragon may manipulate the cold so that its influence on another is diminished for a time. Of course, the same is true of a fire dragon…., ”

It made him chuckle as Father started on a tangent as if he were an electric dragon. Gale nodded then obviously bored wandered to sit beside Cyril. Now, seeing Gale and Cyril so close it was, in fact, very noticeable that his brother was quite small. _'Gale is right, well, perhaps Cyril will grow into his wings yet. Even if he doesn’t, Cyril and I are lucky to have so loving parents as we do. After all, for all we know my birth parents sent me to the Dragon Realms to die. If that should be true than I am glad that my true parents love me.’_

They settled down until the wolf meat was separated from the fur and bone then started to eat.


End file.
